1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to a vehicular entertainment sound system (VESS), and more specifically, to a method for selectively recording and playing back a plurality of audio sources in a VESS.
2. Background Art
The automotive vehicle has become a venue where many individuals listen to news, traffic, and entertainment programs. By its very nature, the ability to listen to a desired program in a vehicle is significantly limited. For example, the length of time an individual spends in a vehicle rarely coincides with the duration of the program listened to by that person. Further, many times the desired program may not even be broadcasted during the time period an individual is in the vehicle. As a result, the individual is frequently prevented from listening to a desired program in its entirety.
There are many situations in which an occupant cannot listen to an entire audio program. A driver may be required to lower the volume of the VESS for short periods of time to allow him to focus on his driving. Typical situations demanding such action include occasions when unfavorable road conditions exist or when the driver must concentrate on the directions in which he should be driving. Other circumstances requiring the volume to be significantly lowered are when an occupant of the vehicle wishes to engage in a conversation with another person. For whatever reason the volume must be lowered, the individual is prevented from listening to a complete audio program in the vehicle. Such an adverse result is undesirable.
Currently, there exists a radio tape recorder for use in association with a VESS. This device allows a user to record radio broadcasts received by the VESS onto an audiocassette tape. Unfortunately, the recorder fails to provide the listener with a time-delayed version of the program being recorded while such program is being concurrently broadcasted. Accordingly, an individual who misses a portion of a program presently being recorded cannot listen to such portion and the remainder of the broadcast until the entire program has been recorded onto the audiocassette tape. Further, in comparison to RAM or hard disk drive as a medium, audiocassette tapes provide inferior sound quality and are subject to a shorter life span. The radio tape recorder also fails to independently provide users with audio programs that may appeal to the user. This device only records audio programs at the very moment the user activates it.
An automobile radio recording system has been introduced that permits a user to continuously record the contents of a radio program onto electronic media and then transfer such contents onto an audiocassette tape or compact disk. Unfortunately, similar to the previous device the automobile recorder fails to provide the listener with a time-delayed version of the program being recorded as long as such program is being simultaneously broadcasted. It also fails to independently provide the user with desired audio programs without the user's immediate activation of the device.
A programmable radio has been introduced that allows for the selective recording of desired broadcasts. The device has voice recognition software that initiates recording of the broadcast when certain words or phrases are identified by the software. However, similar to the previous devices, the programmable radio is not an ondemand system that allows the user to delay a broadcast for an arbitrary period of time.
A recovery recorder system for audio and video programs continuously records a brief span of a broadcast onto a short-term memory medium. If in viewing or listening to the program the user decides that he would like a copy of the program, a control logic command is executed that causes the material on the short-term storage medium to be transferred to a long-term storage medium. Consequently, a user has a copy of the entire broadcast even though he actuates the system after a portion of the program has already been broadcasted. Unfortunately, this system fails to allow the user to effectively pause the live radio broadcast and then immediately resume playing such broadcast from the same point as long as the program is being simultaneously broadcasted. This device also fails to independently record audio programs appealing to the user without the user's specific identification of such programs.
Digital recorders for television allow users to pause a television program being broadcasted and to subsequently resume playing the program from the same point. Unfortunately, this device does not provide any benefit to occupants of automobiles who wish to time-delay a broadcasted radio program. Also, the digital recorder has no feature to record an audio-only program.
In the context of the Internet and personal computers, technology exists for time-delay of radio broadcasts. However, this technology does not apply to FM, AM, or satellite broadcasts. Therefore, this technology falls short of helping an individual who wishes to listen to particular programs on his VESS.
There is a need to provide vehicular occupants with audio programs suited to their taste and at times when they demand such programs. Therefore, there is a need for a method of selectively recording a plurality of audio sources for a VESS.